I am currently looking for the cannon timeline, figuring out where USFP fits into all of this.

This is along the line of the campaign our 3rd Light Division is playing out in the story. TSN and USFP are working closely together, monitoring civil unrest where a religious group known as GenU have moved to radical actions against the government.

The story is currently being played out in this possible year long campaign, and the logs and mission reports coming in are fun to read. The group plays out the order and writes a log, recently they have started to include youtube videos too.

We've put together general orders and have published them into the role playing group here. http://lcarn.tsn-artemis.ca/en/documents/general-orders/I like Arrew's Interstellar Law idea, it falls and aligns on fundamental United Nation's laws too regarding protection, asylum, abuse and all the things that harms sentient beings.

I'm just not too sure where we fall in the entire timeline, but the general idea Mike has noted that TSN officers are really the ones stirring the galactic peace pot through error, evil intent or misunderstandings. Regardless, the actions does create a narrative for others to see TSN and USFP as overlords trying to claim territorial "space".

Here's the summary of what's happen for those who are interested with one of our groups.

Feb 18, 2018Operations includes reliable communications across a Deep Space Transmitter Array Network. So computer systems needs to be delivered and installed etc. The civil unrest continues, where they continue to attack USFP transport vessels. The delivery, installation and configuration of these computer cores for communication is important and critical to claiming "space".http://command.tsn-artemis.ca/p/KB/View/17-escort-transport-vessel

Mar 18, 2018USFP civilian contractors actively sabotaging the installation and configuration of these computer cores. They are suspected as being part of the GenU uprising, so charges, arrests and transporation of these allegedley terrans went down. Insurgents attempted a rescue mission of these contractors. http://command.tsn-artemis.ca/p/KB/View/18-transport-detained-civilians

There is not really a "canon" timeline, although the closest thing to it would probably be the timeline included in the game manual for v1.7 of Artemis. That manual is severely out of date, though, and does not include the Ximni, among other things.

Mike Substelny has on occasion posted dates for various events, which suggests that there may still be a timeline that is used by Thom and Mike for official events. However, I don't know that Mike isn't just making up dates off the top of his head using the v1.7 timeline as a framework.

As far as I know, there are three publically accessible timelines. All three can be accessed on the Artemis Wiki.

The first was developed by Brian Johnson in 2011 for Thom to use in creating the backstory for v1.3. I'm assuming Thom's official canon is derived from that.

The second is the official TSN Sandbox timeline written by Xavier Wise. It is pretty much a duplicate of Thom's official timeline, but IIRC Xavier has continued it past the Second Spiral Arm War with some events that are unique to the TSN Sandbox universe.

The third is my attempt at reconciling Brian's original timeline with the published manual version, and includes some events Mike has made official on the forums. It fleshes out the timeline with additional details, but a lot of that is my own invention, such as the exploits of the original Battle Cruiser Artemis and it's name being reused after the Artemis's destruction, explaining why the player ship is always named "Artemis" unless you rename it.

Despite the fact that my timeline is only "canon" in my own head, I would call it the most complete of the three, as it includes everything that has been introduced into the game since version 2.0. While the Pirate faction is not mentioned by name, they are assumed to be the descendants of the Terran colonies that rebelled against the USFP in the Unakalhai Uprising.

I will note that according to my timeline, the USFP was created in the early days of the Terran colonization period, to protect the intelligent but still planetbound alien races from exploitation. Certain Terran diplomats and the alien races entered into an alliance designed to counter the more aggressive Terran colonies. When the Kraliens were encountered, the USFP naturally took over the task of negotiating and mounting a defense since they had the infrastructure to run an interplanetary government. However, the Terran Stellar Navy, which was originally founded on Earth, was assigned as the military wing of the USFP.

In other words, the USFP is a civilian and economic organization which is made up of many different member races, many of which never actually leave their home worlds. The TSN is a military force and is dominated by Terrans.

I'll add that the timeline makes clear that the Kraliens were the first spacefaring life form the Terrans encountered after leaving their homeworld. This does not mean they did not encounter intelligent life (which is why the USFP was founded) and it can be assumed that they DID encounter other spacefaring races AFTER they met the Kraliens. These races would have been offered the chance to join the USFP, but it's important to realize that the USFP was originally founded by races that, to quote the manual, "ranged from stone aged amphibians to meditative balloons floating in a warm gas giant". They weren't really suited for space travel.

This is distinct from Star Trek's Federation, where Terrans invented Warp Drive and immediately encountered Vulcans, Klingons, Andorians, Tellarites, and all the rest. For quite some time, the Terrans of the Artemis Universe were all alone in their part of the galaxy, and probably acted very much like Conquistadors arriving at the New World. The USFP kept the worst from happening, but for a long time the Terran colonies were probably very independent and frequently at odds with each other.

I see this as carrying over into the current game, with the various civilian forces being somewhat independent. The Civilian bases, Destroyers and Escorts are the defense systems for a planet or planetary system, and aren't organized into a greater whole like the USFP. The planets could be USFP members and usually are, but they are pretty much left to their own devices. I like to think that each planet has its own ship designs and color scheme, which is why the Destroyer and Escort are different from each other and from TSN ships. Unfortunately the game can't include hundreds of unique ship designs, but the Destroyer/Escort is probably a standard hull built by the TSN and made available for civilian defense, kind of like the Coast Guard.

The Pirate faction, in my own lore (PirateLord aka unofficial) is largely several ununited paramilitary groups and/or planetary defense forces that their home worlds were overrun by Hedgemony forces. They are mostly scattered and a non-threat to TSN/USFP forces. However, one small group has allied itself with a extreme edge of TSN forces during training exercises to defend an old shipyard called ShoShuShen station.

"With war raging across the galaxy, Earth forces are spread thin and an unlikely naval flotilla is amassed. Here privateers, military naval vessels and those just trying to survive join forces in a desperate last stand! Here, you will find the grizzled veteran and the rawest of recruit working together for the common good. Here, on the Eastern Front!"

Artemis:Eastern front is an online gaming group for Artemis: Spaceship Bridge simulator that is geared towards the Eastern US time zone. We are beginner friendly and try to create a welcoming atmosphere for all that want to play the game to learn and try out new tactics. Our current game time is Tuesday evenings 8:00pm (first game) till roughly 10:00pm EDT. We meet on Teamspeak server comms.terranstellarnavy.community (no password needed). Join us whether you are an old hand that wants to play with some new people, if you have never played before and want to learn, or anywhere in between!

There is a canon timeline, but it is somewhat fluid. The original game featured the USFP, which Thom made up, perhaps as an afterthought. Later he mentioned that USFP stood for United Space Faring Planets (though "spacefaring" should be one word). The USFP was the political entity that united a collection of planets and races under one government. Later Brian Johnson, the original keeper of the canon, made up the Terran Stellar Navy as the military force that protected the USFP.

Then about 2-3 years ago Thom completely deleted all mention of the USFP from the Artemis software. Suddenly AI ships that had been flagged USFP became "Terran" and player ships became TSN or Ximni. The label USFP no longer appears anywhere, and the USFP is no longer useful in the canon.

The current canon for Artemis 2.7 is that the TSN is a Terran force that works for Earth and is dominated by humans. It is the Ximni who are now a multi-racial organization bound by the principals of "xim," a sort of honor code akin to "The Right Stuff." The principles of xim mean that all Ximni trust each other implicitly, allowing the Ximni direct democracy to function. Any being of any race can become a Ximni by undergoing a training and testing program that proves they have enough xim to be trusted by their fellow Ximni.

I cannot predict what the future may hold. If Thom's next Artemis release changes the TSN into "Earthfleet Command" and the Ximni into "The Starfire Patrol" then the canon will need another revision.

The best canonical timeline that I made is still in the Artemis 1.7 Player's Manual circa 2010. Someone has archived the PDF here. The timeline is on pages 53-54. I created it by starting with Brian Johnson's original timeline then stirring it up to create about a century in which any given faction might fight any other faction at some point. I have a 2013 addendum to the players manual which introduces Artemis 2.0 here on my website.

Both the 2010 manual and the 2013 addendum did mention the Ximni because in 2010 Thom said they would be released "soon." Nevertheless Ximni ships were not released to the public until 2015. In my mind the Ximni are still not complete since they don't have their own bases and AI ships.__________________"The Admiralty had demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."- Winston Churchill

David, I think you could mine some interesting stuff from the Skaraans. They don't believe in strong government at all - - - they believe that profitable corporations can provide everything for their people. As such the Skaraans are never completely on one side of a war. In any war some Skaraan corporations see business opportunities on one side while other corporations see opportunities on the other. The great weakness in Skaraan society is in providing healthcare. Since any given Skaraan's access to healthcare is controlled by the corporation that employs them, they have no centralized means of managing diseases. The Skaraan race is frequently ravaged by epidemics of curable diseases. Every few decades an entire generation of unemployed Skaraans is wiped out, and other Skaraans who receive substandard benefits may be devastated.

Nevertheless, profit motive and corporate espionage have given the Skaraans the greatest technology of any NPC race.

High jinx ensue.__________________"The Admiralty had demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."- Winston Churchill

Then about 2-3 years ago Thom completely deleted all mention of the USFP from the Artemis software. Suddenly AI ships that had been flagged USFP became "Terran" and player ships became TSN or Ximni. The label USFP no longer appears anywhere, and the USFP is no longer useful in the canon.

Actually, Thom removed the USFP designation from the vesselData file and all friendly ships, player and AI, became the "TSN". When Thom adopted my edit of the vesselData file in 2.3, I had renamed the friendly side "Terran" because the Civilian and Industrial bases wouldn't be part of the TSN. (I was also concerned about the "TSN" racekey generating player ships, but you could have just used "TSN friendly") I actually suggested reintroducing the tag "USFP" but Thom never confirmed whether he had dropped the name for copyright or other reasons.

In my own headcanon, the USFP is still the civilian government that the TSN serves. The changes to the game don't contradict that, they just don't confirm it any more. And really, the USFP is irrelevant, the players are members of the TSN, and the system in which they operate could belong to ANY Terran government, whether a member of the USFP or one that is independent. Presumably we could also set missions in Ximni or alien sectors, it's just our vesselData can only name the friendly side "Terran".

I had never seen that 2.0 manual addendum. The link to the 1.7 manual on the wiki is dead, but if it's not on the new site I'll link to that archived copy. If necessary, I can probably mock up a manual that adds the 2.0 addendum to the 1.7 original, but even that would be somewhat out of date. (No Pirates or Ximni) The wiki is still the most up to date "manual" for the game.

Originally Posted by davidtrinhWow, this is wonderful feedback. I info graphed my first review of one version of the timeline and published it on http://www.usfp.space.

I used the content from http://artemiswiki.pbworks.com/w/page/41643319/Timeline

It is to get the ball rolling only and is not definitive. I've attached the PNG file, but the application seems to cut off text for some reason when I export it.

David, I wouldn't use Brian Johnson's timeline. It calls the USFP the "Confederated States" and it was replaced by Mike's timeline. My timeline is an attempt to salvage some of Brian's timeline and bring it back into Mike's. I should edit the wiki to clarify that that Brian's timeline is no longer considered canon.

If you want to start with a graph that only uses Mike's timeline from the manual, that's fine. You can use my timeline and only include the events marked with an asterisk. I don't think Mike has included the events from the Canonical Battles from Artemis Armada in an official timeline, and I didn't see any new events in his addendum to the manual, but the 1.7 timeline is a solid start.

I think USFP needed to be ditched for an important reason: Newbie players could not tell what it meant. Was USFP good or bad? Friend or enemy? Star Trek fans would probably get it, but with others there was no guarantee.

The designation "Terran" is unambiguous. It's a science fiction-y way to say "good guys" that everyone understands, even non science fiction fans.

It also needed to be ditched because it didn't make grammatical sense. United Spacefaring Planets should have been USP.

For the record in the early days I did not like either USFP or TSN, but in those days Brian Johnson was in charge of the canon. I wanted the TSN to be "Earthfleet" because it maps nicely over the word "Army" in the lyrics to "Gee, Ma, I Wanna Go Home."

They say that in the EarthfleetThe coffee's mighty fineWell, it's good for cleaning warp drives,But it tastes like turpentine!Oh, I don't want no more of Eartfleet life!Gee Ma, I wanna go home!

But Brian used TSN and that name caught on. I also really did not like putting the letters TSN in front of a ship name. Would the US Navy call a ship USN Artemis or the British Navy call a ship HMN Artemis?__________________"The Admiralty had demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."- Winston Churchill

Treatment of history is a multi-perspective exercise to me. This requires incorporating source materials that reflect different views of a historical event. In recent decades scholars and educators have begun to question the validity of singular (one-sided) historical narratives. Instead of just focusing on dominant groups and communities, they recommend employing multiple perspectives. One reason for this stems from increasing diversity and cultural pluralism, since many groups — such as women, the poor, ethnic minorities, etc. have been ignored in traditional historical narratives.

As Ann Low-Beer explains, "In history, multiple perspectives are usual and have to be tested against evidence, and accounted for in judgments and conclusions."

In this case, I plan to approach this part of Artemis history as a multi universe to acknowledge that each group can play and imagine, using their creativity in any way they like. Furthermore, I have no authority to say what is right. But I do need to decide in which timeline we here would spend a majority of our story telling in for our social gaming group. Although, jumping to an alternate universe through a singularity could be a neat mission.

I am happy to have spent the time reading, understanding through discussion, and thinking about why different groups may see the same event in different ways while on my hammock this summer. Oftentimes a different story emerges when those multiple perspectives are put together. The result is enriched historical understanding of how each group in our world enjoys playing and creating the Artemis universes in their own way.

This exercise to, "think critically, and make personal and civic decisions based on information from multiple perspectives."

Hence, I am thinking to present all the different parallel or alternate universes in the months to come. All of your contribution to this discussion have been considered and appreciated. As it goes all the way back to what Thom would say to me, "Are you having fun playing the game?". Indeed I am.

Well, I certainly think the history of the Milky Way would be different from the point of view of the Kraliens than it is from the Terrans. Our canon is really from the point of view of the Terrans, though, so there's a lot we don't know about the Kraliens. The Kraliens are assumed to have no FTL drive, not even Jump Drive, which makes no sense given the universe as we know it. A similar claim in the original Star Trek was that the Romulans had no Warp drive, a "fact" had to be retroactively changed to fit the canon of Enterprise and even The Next Generation.

We honestly don't know how the Kraliens are able to get around the galaxy, but my personal favorite theory is that their Old Gods were the builders of a network of Jump Gates that connect the whole Milky Way. THAT'S why they think they own the universe, what they were actually given stewardship of was the Ancients' gate network, but to their primitive pre-spaceflight minds, that was translated to "we own the stars". That map of the network would be valuable to many spacefaring races, but the Kraliens guard it zealously as an icon of their religion.

A story set from their point of view (or even a mod, as in my "Switch Sides" mod) would certainly be interesting. Heck, the Kraliens could have a map of wormholes or spacial distortions that makes the galaxy many times smaller to anyone in possession of the map.

The current explanation is that the Artemis universe is not our universe. It's closer to the universe of Flash Gordon or the original Lost in Space. You just jump in your rocket ship and fly to another part of the galaxy like a cowboy jumping on his horse and riding to another part of the frontier. Interstellar distances, the speed of light, relativity, etc. simply aren't considered in Artemis adventures.

In Artemis there are no stars or planets anyway, just space stations and black holes.__________________"The Admiralty had demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight."- Winston Churchill

Originally Posted by Mike SubstelnyThe current explanation is that the Artemis universe is not our universe. It's closer to the universe of Flash Gordon or the original Lost in Space. You just jump in your rocket ship and fly to another part of the galaxy like a cowboy jumping on his horse and riding to another part of the frontier. Interstellar distances, the speed of light, relativity, etc. simply aren't considered in Artemis adventures.

In Artemis there are no stars or planets anyway, just space stations and black holes.

I may be flogging a dead horse here, but, OK, there's no planets in Artemis. So what? Artemis the game is about starships blowing each other up. The Artemis Universe is a whole other thing. I agree that wasting too much time worrying about interstellar distances and whatnot is pointless. A visit to the Ximni homeworld should be no bigger of a deal than you or me hopping on a plane and flying to Europe, relatively speaking. IF you want there to be a canon, with history and events that inform the Artemis player and provide reasons for why they want to blow the other spaceships up and why they maybe want to blow you up (and the empirical evidence I'm seeing says that this is pretty much unambiguously the case), then the actual parameters of what Artemis the game can and can't do are not terribly relevant. You create a story that provides the reasons for going out and blowing up the Ximni or the Torgoths...and in those stories, you can have actual planets...

Originally Posted by ryleyraWell, I certainly think the history of the Milky Way would be different from the point of view of the Kraliens than it is from the Terrans. Our canon is really from the point of view of the Terrans, though, so there's a lot we don't know about the Kraliens. The Kraliens are assumed to have no FTL drive, not even Jump Drive, which makes no sense given the universe as we know it. A similar claim in the original Star Trek was that the Romulans had no Warp drive, a "fact" had to be retroactively changed to fit the canon of Enterprise and even The Next Generation.

We honestly don't know how the Kraliens are able to get around the galaxy, but my personal favorite theory is that their Old Gods were the builders of a network of Jump Gates that connect the whole Milky Way. THAT'S why they think they own the universe, what they were actually given stewardship of was the Ancients' gate network, but to their primitive pre-spaceflight minds, that was translated to "we own the stars". That map of the network would be valuable to many spacefaring races, but the Kraliens guard it zealously as an icon of their religion.

This is wonderful. I personally think the Kraliens are a little more complicated than that (i.e. I think that they do actually have scientists who are able to cobble together FTL starships, but for various reasons these individuals are vanishingly rare relative to other spacefaring races), but this is still the best explanation of them I've seen anybody come up with.

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